A police chief has launched an astonishing attack on the media by suggesting it failed to properly publicise appeals about Muslim mosque bombings out of possible religious bias.

And Dave Thompson, Deputy Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, questioned whether coverage would have been greater if a different religion had been targeted.

Blogging about the recent Black Country mosque attacks, the force’s second most senior officer wrote about the ‘low level of media coverage the events received’.

He added: “Our circulation of the picture of alleged suspects in the Mosque attacks drew very little coverage; that was frustrating at a time we needed public help.

‘‘I wonder if you picked another faith and said that there would be a series of bombings at places of worship during a major religious period and the police had a picture of the alleged attacker you might think it would get more coverage?’’

He said: “The force faced the combined threat of a person allegedly engaged in serial terror attacks on the Muslim community and a major EDL demonstration. The force needed to catch the offender, prevent further attacks, work with communities and manage their concerns and police a major public order threat.

“With the appearance in court of Pavlo Lapshyn, charged with murder and other terrorism matters, and the great skill in which the EDL event was managed the results so far have been outstanding.

We told how crime had risen in the West Midlands by more than two per cent, just months after the force was boasting about falls in offences.

We revealed that overall crime had risen by 2.5 per cent from April to July 15, compared with the same period in 2012.

The force said the ‘most serious violence’ was also up, by 2.3 per cent, from 781 to 799 offences.

The Mail article prominently recorded that burglaries were down 5.6 per cent and robberies by 3.5 per cent.

Dep Chief Con Thompson said: ‘‘The media coverage was interesting regarding reductions in crime last week with the release of annual crime data showing us as one of the country’s most successful forces....

‘‘Sadly that’s all come at a time when we have seen some small shifts upwards in the last few weeks on crime; particularly violence in the hot weather.

“It was a shame one paper really jumped on this to try and play three months statistics against two years worth of reduction. Oh well, but I am sure we will be pulling this back in the next few months.”

The force’s second most senior officer is a regular blogger and as well as crime, often writes about non-police related subjects, including sports, politics and the NHS.

In his latest posting he wrote about Tour de France winner Chris Froome who lifted the trophy at the weekend.

He said: “I have felt for Chris Froome this week trying to convince some people (not needed here!) that his great performances are drug free.

“It’s a bit like being a police chief saying crime is down; no one wants to believe you! Happily last week’s coverage, particularly from BBC correspondent Mark Easton, made the point that there is a lot of evidence it is.

‘‘Sadly that’s all come at a time when we have seen some small shifts upwards in the last few weeks on crime; particularly violence in the hot weather.’’

“Whatever the figures do say there is no room for complacency,” he added.